Cathy Horyn's Advice to Bloggers: Stick to News and Don't Be 'Shady'

At Fashion Group International’s Annual Night of Stars Gala last night we caught up with New York Times fashion scribe Cathy Horyn, who was there to present Jil Sander's Raf Simons with an award. She recently doled out some advice for aspiring fashion writers in a video on Nowness.com, stressing the importance of reporting over getting into fashion shows. Her advice for bloggers specifically?
"I think it’s about bringing something fresh and different to a blog, that’s not really about criticism or opinion. News is good because it’s something you have that nobody else has. If you can be truthful about it, without being shady about the sourcing, then I think it’s good.”

At Fashion Group International’s Annual Night of Stars Gala last night we caught up with New York Times fashion scribe Cathy Horyn, who was there to present Jil Sander's Raf Simons with an award. She recently doled out some advice for aspiring fashion writers in a video on Nowness.com, stressing the importance of reporting over getting into fashion shows. Her advice for bloggers specifically?

"I think it’s about bringing something fresh and different to a blog, that’s not really about criticism or opinion. News is good because it’s something you have that nobody else has. If you can be truthful about it, without being shady about the sourcing, then I think it’s good.”

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As fewer and fewer journalists will have the opportunity to cut their teeth at a newspaper since their numbers are dwindling (this is where Leah thanks the New York Daily News), we couldn't agree more with Horyn's advice. Get out there and talk to people! (We'll try not to be too shady Cathy.)

Barnard College puts out a great fashion mag called Hoot, and you might recognize the name of one of the contributors to their latest issue: It's Cathy Horyn. The Times critic is a Barnard alum and she wrote a thoughtful piece for Hoot about how she got where she is today, and shared her advice to future fashion writers. She also has a very specific idea for the kind of blog you should start.
Horyn says she always knew she wanted to be a newspaper reporter but "in the post-Watergate era, many young people had the same idea," so she went to J-school at Medill at Northwestern and started work as a copygirl at the Chicago bureau of the AP on the weekends. After graduating, Horyn applied to 75 newspapers and "received two positive replies," one of which was from The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. She took the job and covered the school board. Doesn't sound like the path to a career in fashion journalism, right? Well, that's kind of Horyn's point:

Don't Hate On Us Franca: In her, ahem, blog de direttore, Vogue Italia EIC Franca Sozzani unleashes about her disdain for fashion bloggers. Here's a sampling: "Do we need all these bloggers? They don't offer an opinion but only talk about themselves, take their own pictures wearing absurd outfits. What's the point?" and "These aren't people who have been working in fashion too long to end up criticizing everything, the shows, and they don't have a background in fashion so they are not conditioned by their knowledge or interests. There [sic] comments are naif [sic] and enthusiastic. They don't hold a real importance in the business. Of course not." Ouch. This kind of blanket smack down seems more than a little unjust. {Refinery29}
Cathy Horyn on the Michelle Obama "Witch Hunt": We thought it was kinda tssk-tssk-y for the CFDA and ODLR and WWD to shame Michelle Obama for wearing a foreign designer to the China state dinner. So did Cathy Horyn. And she's got some very valid points: "I’m afraid the C.F.D.A., while wanting to act like a family, really represents individuals with very different interests. The truth is many of its members, including its president, Diane Von Furstenberg, manufacture a significant portion of their clothes outside the United States, mainly in Asia. Why wasn’t that mentioned in the WWD articles?" She also voices concern that Mrs. O will be known only for her dresses and not her brains and the good work she's been doing as FLOTUS. Preach, Horyn! Only why back down from the original title of your post? Horyn originally titled her post "Witch Hunt" and now it's headlined "About that McQueen Dress." {On the Runway}
Baptiste on Karl: Karl Lagerfeld's muse Baptiste Giabiconi covers Dansk magazine (who did they to him!?) and opens up on his relationship with the Kaiser: “One day I went up to Karl and said: ‘Why me? What is it you see in me? Why do you only work with me?’ And he told me it’s because he sees something in me that he doesn’t see in other people, something in the way I carry myself. Karl said: ‘I see both a man and a woman in you at the same time.’” {Models.com}